Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5Hinckley draws 1,531 commuters a day, with 2.1 jobs for every working resident
1,741 jobs are based in Hinckley; 830 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Hinckley D; getting around on foot earns it B+. Household incomes here are lower than in 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Hinckley
Hinckley is where the jobs are
Hinckley has 1,741 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,900 people are in town, 46% more than the 2,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Hinckley than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Hinckley fell from 2,530 in 2013 to 1,741 in 2023, −31%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 830 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Hinckley: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Hinckley is better than 6% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Hinckley’s grade.
Unemployment (6.8%) is left out: Hinckley’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Hinckley could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Hinckley fills up on a workday
On a workday 620 residents head out to work and 210 work right here.
About 2,900 people are in Hinckley on a workday afternoon, 46% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hinckley, 2013 → 2023: 2,530 → 1,741. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Hinckley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Hinckley
About 30% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Where Hinckley’s workforce comes from
Where Hinckley clocks in
5% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Hinckley’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hinckley workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 616 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Minnesota: 84% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Driving is how Hinckley gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hinckley is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Hinckley near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 663 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 12.2% of Hinckley households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Hinckley’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Hinckley compares with U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Tonka Bay MN | 1,561 | $156K | 3.5% | 9.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | May Township MN | 2,638 | $137K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Stillwater Township MN | 1,831 | $162K | 3.4% | 3.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,016 | Yosemite Valley CA | 1,991 | $34K | 21.0% | 4.8% | 18% | D |
| 5,017 | Gurdon AR | 1,817 | $48K | 17.2% | 5.6% | 8% | D |
| 5,018 | Hinckley MN | 1,992 | $51K | 19.7% | 6.8% | 25% | D |
| 5,019 | Ackerman MS | 1,536 | $48K | 21.3% | 23.6% | 16% | D |
| 5,020 | Eupora MS | 2,116 | $54K | 23.0% | 18.8% | 23% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Hinckley, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Hinckley and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hinckley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hinckley | – | D | B+ | 24 min | $50,714 |
| Barry Township | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Hinckley Township | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Barry Township and Hinckley Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hinckley’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Hinckley: questions
What is the median household income in Hinckley?
$50,714 (±$14,409) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hinckley?
19.7%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hinckley?
24 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hinckley work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pine City (9%, 12 mi), Sandstone (5%, 8 mi), Mora (5%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hinckley walkable?
Hinckley is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hinckley without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hinckley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hinckley
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.